India

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is the most crucial regulatory authority of India that has been established for the purpose of regulating the development of schemes for old-age income security. The headquarters of PFRDA are situated in New Delhi, and it functions under the administrative control of the Department of Financial Services in the Ministry of Finance. The PFRDA was first established by the executive order of the government in the month of August 2003. But it has become fully statutory since the 1st of February 2014, when the PFRDA Act, 2013 came into force. The PFRDA operates under the regulation of a board that comprises the Chairperson and not more than six members, and all these members are specialists in their respective fields and are appointed by the central government.

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) serves as the central gateway of supervision that is tasked with organizing, licensing, and regulating pension schemes in India in order to protect the financial well-being of its subscribers in the future [Unified]. It directly manages the National Pension System (NPS) that encompasses government employees at the state and central levels, corporates, and citizens. In addition, it manages the application of the micro-pension scheme of the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) to the lower-income groups. With its quasi-judicial power from the PFRDA Act, the authority regulates the registration and compliance of various market intermediaries such as central recording agencies, pension fund managers, trustee banks, and points of presence. In addition, it establishes stringent rules regarding investments in different types of asset classes, including equity and corporate debt, risk exposures, subscriber grievances, and financial penalties for non-compliance by organizations.